Worship through the Pain

Now, I don’t have kids, but my wife recently began babysitting for a 5 month old and boy are we learning a lot.  One of the things we’ve learned is how much easier (although creepier) it would be if babies could tell us what they want.  But instead all they can do is fuss and cry and as a parent (and babysitter) it kills you to hear a baby cry and experience sadness.  So we pick up the baby and calm him/her down.  But the problem is that sometimes we are doing more harm than good.  Babies, if they are held every time they cry, can become conditioned to cry any time they want to be held and cannot live life outside of the arms of a parent or babysitter.  So sometimes, a baby needs to cry themselves to sleep, even though it may kill a parent to allow it to happen.

This week your student is learning about worshipping through hurt pain and frustration just like the psalmists do.  We all filter the experiences in our lives through our emotions. They are the God–given lens we use to process the everyday occurrences that challenge us, hurt us, and give us hope. For your student, the world is a cycle of experiences, emotions, and responses. As we have been walking through this three-week series on worship, we are taking a look at the Psalms in order to try to understand what the writer was feeling and how they processed through their emotions honestly with God. Their worship expression can be one of joy, lament, grief, or praise, recognizing that God accepts our worship no matter what emotional state we are in.

But as parents and youth leaders we want to protect our students from hurt and pain.  This life is hard and it is hard to watch students go through difficult times.  Many times we just want to help students get past their pain as fast as possible.  We say things like, “God has a plan” and try to manage their emotions so that they are ok.  But, do we do more harm than good?  Do we help students suppress their emotions or do we help students process through their emotions.  Think about it?   How do you respond when your student goes through pain and difficulty?  Do you allow them to feel sadness, anger, disappointment, struggle, and pain?  Do you say things like, “Don’t be sad or angry? God has a plan.”  Or do you say things like, “How does that make you feel?  Why do you feel that way?  Have you ever told God how you feel about this situation?”  We don’t want our students to get hurt, but when they do how do we help them worship God by processing through their real emotions?

Next time your student doesn’t make the team, doesn’t get the solo, doesn’t make the grade, gets rejected by a friend, or fails at something they really wanted to succeed in, how are you going to respond?  How can you help them process through their emotions and help them know that God can handle their emotions?

Bonus:  What kind of emotions are you feeling right now?  Why do you feel that way?  Have you ever told God?  Spend some time thinking or journaling about these questions.  How can you model how you worship in hard times?